On high alert: Ian Foster
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New Zealand assistant coach Ian Foster warned his players not to underestimate struggling England at Twickenham on Saturday.
Stuart Lancaster's troops have crashed to successive defeats against Australia and South Africa amid criticism of the team's lacklustre performances.
Few pundits expects England to pull off a shock win against an All Blacks outfit unbeaten in their last 20 Tests.
But Foster believes New Zealand shouldn't take anything for granted as England will be desperate to salvage some respect after their dispiriting run continued with Saturday's 16-15 loss to South Africa.
"It's a dangerous time to be playing England. We saw that a little bit when we played Wales on Saturday," Foster said.
"They will have targeted us and there's no better way for redemption when you've had a couple of defeats than to knock over a top team.
"Between that and the youth they have, a little sense of adventure could come into their game.
"They've come off two big games so the energy levels will be pretty even and it will just be about who executes the best.
"They showed during their summer series in South Africa that they can play with a bit of width. They proved they have the ability to do that.
"It's going to be at least as tough as the Wales match from what we've seen.
"That was a very physical game and we were fortunate to execute really well in some moments and pile on a lot of pressure."
New Zealand demolished Wales 33-10 in Cardiff on Saturday to continue their impressive run and they will have added motivation to crush England as it is World Cup-winning captain Richie McCaw's last match before beginning a six-month sabbatical.
"I'm sure that for Richie it will be in his mind. It's already been mentioned at the back of the bus," said All Blacks centre Conrad Smith.
"I'm sure he won't bring it up. He's already spoken about how much he wants the team to finish well.
"We feel like we deserve it for the year we have, but that doesn't get you any points. You have to do the work."
Comments
PontySurrey says...
Expect Mr Foster has already discussed taking out a couple of key England players to even up the odds.
Posted 13:58 27th November 2012
KiwiKev says...
AB by 10...
Posted 12:53 27th November 2012
jonesy2 says...
the criticism of england has been ignorant to say the least. anyone who knows rugby would be surprised that they only lost to south africa by 1 and australia by 6.
Posted 09:51 27th November 2012
lawynd says...
nzmaoriboy - I've not read anything to suggest that Hore or Thompson's acts are indicative of a team mentality or playing ethos - please do post some links if you have them. Either way, the vast majority of fans (certainly all the proper and decent ones) know that this is not the case; you don't like your team being tarred with the same brush so please don't do the same to us supporters please.
As for the OP, I predict NZ by 10-17 points. England have the potential to cause problems but overall, that's how much better they are than us at the moment.
Posted 09:38 27th November 2012
chancer says...
There have been far too many instances of this kind of thuggery rom NZ, some peoples memories are very limited. I just hope that saturdays game proceeds without an England player being the victim of the kind of incident that we have come to expect. Hopefully the officials will be watchfull.
Posted 09:31 27th November 2012
sirtidychris says...
England will get smashed, Goode and Farrell will kick the ball every time they get it and if your giving away that much ball to the all blacks you dont stand a chance. Our scrum is looking vulnerable now Corbs is a doubt and Robshaw wont be able to compete with mccaw on the ground, in open play or as a decision making captain. Our centres cant creative anything and are up against the most succesfull pairing in the histroy of the game while our back three will probably have two full backs (one of which never runs) and 1 out of form winger against three of the most dangerous broken play runners in the world. How anyone given the recent run of games thinks this will be even nearly close i dont' know !
Posted 09:08 27th November 2012
Golden_statenba says...
Man these story's are becoming as predictable as some of the comments of this website
Was this cut and pasted from the Kieran Read story last week?
Posted 08:29 27th November 2012
Frooschman says...
Oh come on, "crashed to successive defeats"?! That's laying it on a little thick.
But seriously, who's this guy trying to kid? Even a one-eyed Englander like me can see this is a no win for England. Our best hope for a draw is if the storms swamp Twickenham and the match is called off! This game is all about measuring ourselves against the best. You want to know whether Robshaw can play seven at this level? Well this might be when you find out. Ditto Farrell at ten!
Posted 08:12 27th November 2012
nzmaoriboy says...
I was initially picking this game to be the toughest on the TOUR! But with the recent Condemnation of HORES dumb act..& the even more tenuous insinuations by the Northern scribes (collective) that this singular act by a singular player..is what the whole ALL BLACK BRAND is about..will backfire. i.e He has been condemned in NZ too..but to suggest this is what our game is based on! you would expect to see lines of "unconscious" players from "BETTER" teams that we have played.I think you will see a very polarized AB team this week ready to sign off in style. Against wales in the last 20 our team looked very tired! but I think this week we will see more changes aimed at freshening up the squad.
Posted 08:08 27th November 2012